PROVINCETOWN – Latest update Saturday 6 AM (from Town Manager Alex Morse): Good morning Provincetown!
We are pleased to report that the entirety of the downtown vacuum sewer system has been returned to stable operation and handled the gradual increase in flows overnight from residential properties.
At this time, ALL users can begin to gradually return to normal water use: the sewer emergency order is lifted!
We are grateful for the dedicated DPW team, our engineering and operations team AECOM, Woodard and Curran, Jimmy Roderick and his team and the Robert B. Our Co. for their long hours and hard work to ensure this unfortunate storm impact could be swiftly repaired.
All staff involved in this emergency response appreciate your patience over the last 48 hours.
Without your cooperation from businesses and the community, restoring vacuum system capacity would have encountered more time-consuming difficulties.
Cheers to safe, sanitary and stable wastewater disposal in Provincetown, and bring on the Monsters, Myths & Legends. Happy Carnival!
Friday 6 PM: As of 6:00 PM, we are pleased to report that the entirety of the downtown vacuum sewer system has been returned to stable operation. At this time, residential users can begin to gradually return to normal water use. We are requesting that sewer customers in the downtown area refrain from large water uses right away, such as laundry and dishwashers to ensure the stability of the system as it gets back online.
If the system continues to remain stable overnight with the addition of residential flows, restaurants and businesses may resume normal operation tomorrow morning, Saturday August 13th. We will provide an update early tomorrow morning to confirm.
Thank you again for your patience and cooperation over the last 36 hours. You have allowed our team to make the necessary repairs more quickly.
In the event you are having a sewer emergency, call the answering service at 508-487-5474 and leave a message. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
Previous coverage:
Friday 8:30 AM: The team continues to make progress and we are moving in the right direction. Crews worked overnight and the team spent considerable time getting the vacuum line on Bradford Street up and running. However, more work is to be done and the sewer emergency for properties on the vacuum sewer system is still in place at this time. This includes properties on Commercial Street from Snow Street to Point Street, and properties on the sewer system on Bradford Street between Conwell Street and Prince Street. For complete list of properties impacted on the vacuum system, follow this link: https://prov.town/w8av5s
We will provide another update in the early afternoon, or sooner if we have any significant updates or changes before then. We are hopeful that we are getting closer to full restoration, but we can’t say for sure until every part of the system has been addressed. Crews are advancing through the West End this morning.
Thank you again to everyone who is cooperating with the restrictions announced this morning – it is making a difference.
A reminder that the restrictions do not apply to sewer customers that are on our gravity system, nor does it apply to properties with on-site septic systems.
Any restaurant or food service business in this service area needs to remain closed, except for the sale of prepackaged, ready to eat food. Any residential property on this system must reduce water use, including dishwashing, laundry, showering, and only flushing when absolutely necessary.
Public restrooms are closed again today. We have porta potties on Ryder Street next to Town Hall.
If you have any questions, you can call DPW Deputy Director Sherry Prada during business hours at 508-487-7060. If you are having a sewer emergency, you need to call the answering service at 508-487-5474 and leave a message. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
Previous coverage:
Sewer Emergency Update as of 9:00 PM:
We continue to make progress and we are moving in the right direction. Please note that the sewer emergency for properties on the vacuum sewer system is still in place at this time. This includes properties on Commercial Street from Snow Street to Point Street, and properties on the sewer system on Bradford Street between Conwell Street and Prince Street.
We do have some data we want to share after speaking with our sewer team and engineers a few minutes ago:
First, the flows through the central vacuum system were significantly lower today as a result of the restrictions put in place. Yesterday, we had 125,600 gallons go through the central vacuum system; today we had 65,400 gallons go through the vacuum system – a 48% decrease in flow compared to yesterday. This allowed the sewer team to continue making repairs.
As of right now, our team on the ground has brought:
67% of structures/manholes back online
63% of the total length of the system is operating
68% of total properties are functioning
80% of total flow has been reconnected
Despite this progress, we cannot connect one portion of the system at a time. The entire vacuum system needs to be reconnected in order to get back online and back to normal. The team will be working overnight and we will provide another update in the morning.
Thank you again to everyone who is cooperating with the restrictions announced this morning – it is making a difference.
A reminder that the restrictions do not apply to sewer customers that are on our gravity system, nor does it apply to properties with on-site septic systems.
Any restaurant or food service business in this service area needs to remained closed, except for the sale of prepackaged, ready to eat food. Any residential property on this system must reduce water use, including dishwashing, laundry, showering, and only flushing when absolutely necessary.
As of now, all public restrooms will be closed again tomorrow. We have porta potties on Ryder Street next to Town Hall.
If you have any questions you can call DPW Deputy Director Sherry Prada during business hours at 508-487-7060. If you are having a sewer emergency, you need to call the answering service at 508-487-5474 and leave a message.
We will get back to you as soon as we can.
Previous coverage:
IMPORTANT SEWER EMERGENCY UPDATE:
The Town of Provincetown is declaring a sewer emergency for properties on the vacuum sewer system. This includes properties on Commercial Street from Snow Street to Point Street, and properties on the sewer system on Bradford Street between Conwell Street and Prince Street and side streets that feed into them. Please refer to map below – the brown shaded area is the vacuum system. This does not apply to sewer customers that are on our gravity system, nor does it apply to properties with on-site septic systems.
Any restaurant or food service business in this service area will need to cease operations immediately. This is necessary to prevent a further public health emergency caused by sewer overflows, and we need to drastically reduce flow to allow the critical repair work in order to get the town back to full capacity.
Any residential property on this system must reduce water use, including dishwashing, laundry, showering, and only flush when absolutely necessary.
We are estimating that we need up to 48 hours to make the repairs and get the system back to normal.
For a detailed map of service areas, please visit www.provincetown-ma.gov
All public restrooms are closed today and tomorrow. We have 18 porta potties arriving in Town at 11:00am and they will be on Ryder Street next to Town Hall.
Our team will continue to provide updates throughout the next 48 hours. We want to thank everyone for their continued patience and cooperation. If you have any questions, you can call DPW Deputy Director Sherry Prada during business hours at 508-487-7060.
If you are having a sewer emergency, you need to call the answering service at 508-487-5474 and leave a message.
We will get back to you as soon as we can.
Previous coverage:
Provincetown Police forwarded the following alert Tuesday evening: Because of this afternoons heavy rain and thunderstorms, the central vacuum sewer station, that runs the Commercial district downtown sewer system, is currently suffering an electrical malfunction.
The team from the Wastewater Treatment Facility are working hard to remedy the problem but in the meantime you must stop doing anything that may add waste to the system.
That means no dishes, no laundry and no bathrooms. Essentially anything that adds waste into the sewer system. If you continue doing these functions you may create a sewer backup into your property.
Please know that the team at the wastewater treatment team and your Department of Public Works crews are working as fast as they can to get the central vacuum system up and running. Should you experience a sewer emergency please call 508-487-5474 and leave a message with the answering service.
Your call will be addressed as soon as possible.
Thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation during this
This update was issued later in the evening: The Wastewater Treatment team reports that the central vacuum station has been repaired.
However due to the length of the outage, there may be other issues along the vacuum line.
The sewer team has called in extra staff to assist. It may take several hours to troubleshoot and make sure the system is up running properly however there could be some isolated issues with the vacuum sewer system.
While there has been no reported issues at this time, you should limit your use of the sewer system for the remainder of this evening.
Should you encounter any issues, please call the emergency answering service at 508-487-5474.
All issues will be addressed as soon as possible.”
“SEWER UPDATE: As of 9:00 PM Wednesday evening, the Wastewater Treatment Facility and Sewer Operations Team continue to work on the vacuum sewer system.
There is still work to be done to get our system back to normal. The Town is committed to resolving this quickly and have called in extra repair staff to assist and crews will be working overnight.
Despite earlier progress, the larger than normal wastewater volume sent into the sewer system today has hampered our ability to make the necessary repairs. If things do not improve by morning, you can expect another alert with updated information and further instructions.
We are asking that those properties on our vacuum sewer system in the downtown area continue to be conservative with your use of the system. Please only flush when needed and forgo laundry, dishwashing, etc.
For your reference, we are referring to those properties on the sewer system along Commercial Street from Snow Street to Point Street, and also properties on the sewer system on Bradford Street between Pearl Street and Prince Street.
While we hope this isn’t the case, we may need to implement further restrictions tomorrow in order to facilitate our ability to make the necessary repairs. If that is the case, the Town will provide more specific boundaries and a map with further instructions.
We want to thank everyone for their continued patience and cooperation during this sewer work. If you have any questions you can call DPW Deputy Director Sherry Prada during business hours at 508-487-7060. If you are having a sewer emergency, you need to call the answering service at 508-487-5474 and leave a message.
We will get back to you as soon as we can.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation.
